PALM COAST
Observer YOU. YOUR NEIGHBORS. YOUR NEIGHBORHOOD.
VOLUME 6, NO. 42
FEED FLAGLER Hot meal serving location on Thanksgiving: noon to 4 p.m. Nov. 26, at 7-Eleven, 408 S. Oceanshore Blvd., Flagler Beach. Visit flaglercounty.org for more information.
WHAT’S THAT ELF UP TO NOW? The author of the ‘Elf on the Shelf’ books visited Old Kings Elementary this week.
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Palm Coast seeks more efficient ambulance, EMS, system City fire trucks are used more often for medical calls than for fires. JONATHAN SIMMONS NEWS EDITOR
Palm Coast and Flagler County duplicate each others’ EMS services — a costly inefficiency — and the city hasn’t been able to meet its goal of an EMS response time of five minutes or less, Palm Coast Fire Chief Mike Beadle told the City Council at a Nov. 24 City Council workshop. The report Beadle gave was requested by council members and city staff who are frustrated with repeatedly sending out city fire trucks to respond to 911 calls that are overwhelmingly medical. Fire trucks are expensive to run and maintain, and it would be cheaper for the city to send ambulances. But Palm Coast can’t do that, because, under Florida law, municipalities need the permission of their county to run an SEE EMS PAGE 2A
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& GREETIN GS INSIDE INSIDE We’ll take you from Small Bus Christmas iness Saturd cookies, and ay to everything in between.
THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 26, 2015
GIVING THANKS FOR
WHERE I’VE BEEN, WHERE I AM After a childhood of poverty in Italy, Tony Benvenuto is now a successful soccer coach at Matanzas High.
“The misconception was that we’d be coming to the United States and would be picking money off of trees.”
JEFF DAWSEY STAFF WRITER
Matanzas girls soccer coach Tony Benvenuto has come, literally, a long way from the poor lifestyle he was accustomed to in Bari, Italy, as a child. During the week of Thanksgiving, Benvenuto takes a trip down memory lane to count his many blessings. “I’m thankful I was given the opportunity to be in this country,” he said. “My family, my newfound faith and my job are what I’m most thankful for of all things, and I found all of that here in the states.” From age 6 to 10, Benvenuto spent nine months out of the year at a lower-level boarding school because his parents couldn’t afford to feed him and his sister throughout the year. While there, he was often the victim of stealing and unreasonable searches for missing items. But, back at home, for three months, he would spend most of the day, as a kid, on the farm with his dad, who was a migrant farm worker. Then, in 1960, when John F. Kennedy reopened the borders after World War II, Benvenuto’s dad set in order the process for his family to move to the states. SEE LIFE PAGE 16A
Tony Benvenuto, on the American dream
Left: Tony Benvenuto, as a thirdgrader in Italy. Above: Benvenuto led the girls soccer team to the state Final Four in 2014.
A ‘NEW’ BIKE FOR CHRISTMAS Growing up in a poor home, Benvenuto’s father found a bicycle in the dumpster and gave it to his sister. Then, for every Christmas, his father would paint it and give it to another child over and over again. Although they knew it was the same bike, the children were thankful and didn’t mind.
Murder at Matanzas? Don’t worry, it’s not a real one. See why students are excited about forensics.
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INSIDE “This is catnip.” That’s not what you want to hear as you sit down to dinner, but it’s exactly what happened to Jacque Estes. Read her Thanksgiving horror story about a little spice mix-up.
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